Anti-terrorism Measures Costly For State Department

The U.S. State Department is spending more of its $18-billion budget than ever before to defend its embassies and consulates against terrorism, a department official said yesterday in Allentown.

John Coffman, associate director for regional affairs in the Office for Counter-Terrorism and Emergency Planning, said State Department officials are also concerned about making their embassies and consulates into armed fortresses.

President Reagan, earlier this year, requested a $4.4-billion, five-year program to beef up security at diplomatic posts, with most of the money concentrated in the Middle East.

As a political tool, international terrorism probably isn't going to go away, Coffman told members and guests of Charles Kline Lodge 916 of B'nai B'rith at an Allentown Hilton luncheon.

"The causes of terrorism are endless," he said, noting that terrorist acts are relatively cheap to carry out and very often effective because they are hard to detect early.

He said the policy of the Reagan administration in hostage-takings by terrorists is no political concessions, no ransom and no direct government involvement in negotiations to free the hostages. The policy, he said, is the same whether the hostages are U.S. officials or private citizens.

Coffman said he sees the need for a policy "to deny terrorists the benefits of their actions" and accepts the policy despite the possible consequences for hostages.

He said he agreed with the U.S. military action against Libya because there is undeniable evidence that Libya was directly involved in the bombing of a bar in West Germany in which an American was killed and scores of people were injured, including many Americans.

The Reagan administration, he said, unsuccessfully tried many alternatives to halt Libya's involvement in terrorism.

Coffman said the hostages, in many cases, are not the target in most cases and are chosen at random.

An exception would be the kidnapping of an American businessman for ransom money, which is becoming fairly common, he said.

The federal official said terrorism has always been around but is brought closer to American homes today by television.

Tools to thwart terrorists include good police work among countries, greater use of technology in tightening security, such as better screening of airline passengers; training and use of cooperative international crisis management teams and reform of the legal systems in allied countries to permit extradition more readily.

Coffman said well-trained terrorists are often highly skilled and can find ways to "beat screening devices."

He said such terrorism is definitely carried out in the Mideast to "keep the pot boiling" in that region of political unrest.

He noted that although Americans are the targets abroad - 40 percent of the victims in the past 15 years were U.S. citizens - international terrorism has not been a serious problem within U.S. borders.

Coffman said common terrorist targets are Foreign Service workers, U.S. business facilities abroad and airlines.